One Step Closer's Packaging Collaborative
Group Members: Caroline Barry, Natalie Kra, Maria Mitarakis
Plastics and other forms of single-use packaging are ubiquitous and thus unavoidable; almost anywhere you go you will find various essential items wrapped in packaging. Plastic packaging in particular has been a key component in food safety, medical innovation, sanitation, and more recently, convenience. Despite these justifiable uses, our heavy reliance on plastic and other forms of single-use packaging has created a massive pollution problem. More than 10 million tons of plastic enter the oceans annually and more than 80% of marine litter is plastics. Additionally, 79% of plastic waste has accumulated in landfills or the natural environment鈥揳ll places it shouldn鈥檛 be. The purpose of this project is to develop a Sustainable Packaging Innovation Resource Webpage as part of an expansion of One Step Closer鈥檚 Packaging Collaborative efforts. The landing page will contain critical sustainable/circular packaging resources such as viable packaging materials, LCA data, white papers, consumer packaged goods (CPG) retail trends, key supplier partners, and packaging commitments for companies who are trying to make a difference in their own supply chain. In order to create a robust, open-source page, the MENV team will use data analysis, document analysis, the creation of databases and case studies, and stakeholder surveys. They will do a deep dive into compostable packaging development as well as provide a systems-level solution for circular packaging in the CPG industry.